Punjab govt given till Dec 9 to reply

Petitioner challenges four medical colleges lacking PMDC recognition.

LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed on Monday again sought the Punjab government’s reply to a petition challenging establishment of four new medical colleges in the province.

The government was supposed to file a reply by Monday, but did not. The judge gave the government until December 9 to do so. He observed that the provincial government had already sought a number of adjournments in the case.

Advocate Noshab A Khan filed the petition stating that the government had inaugurated colleges in Sialkot, Gujranwala, Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan even though they had not been recognised by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

He said that students had been admitted to the 100-seat colleges for the 2010-2011 academic session even though the degrees on offer had yet to be recognised by the council.

Khan said the Punjab government had not even bothered to apply to the PMDC for recognition. He said the colleges lacked proper buildings, qualified faculty, attached teaching hospitals, and suitable laboratories and libraries.

The petitioner said that the government needed to seek PMDC recognition with retrospective effect in order to give validation to the qualifications awarded by the colleges. He said there was no precedent for this.

He said the Supreme Court had declared that all medical and dental colleges lacking PMDC recognition were illegal.

He asked the court to declare the four colleges illegal and stop their functioning till the petition is disposed of.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2011.